February 27, 2019

Pages 1513
Whole Number 79

SPARKS FAMILIES IN ARKANSAS - - - 1830 CENSUS

by William Perry Johnson

What is now Arkansas was part of the Territory of Missouri until 1819, when it was formed as an independent territory and included what is now Oklahoma. Indians had held full sway over the country until after the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. Arkansas became a state in 1836. The 1820 census for the Territory of Arkansas has been lost. The 1830 census for the Territory of Arkansas has been preserved in the National Archives in Washington, D.C., and includes the counties of Arkansas, Chicot, Clark, Conway, Crawford, Crittenden, Heapstead, Hot Spring, Independence, Izard, Jackson, Jefferson, Lafayette, Lawrence, Miller, Monroe, Phillips, Pope, Pulaski, Saint Francis, Sevier, Union, and Washington.

Sparks families were living in four of Arkansas' twenty-three counties in 1830. As in all federal censuses from 1790 until 1850, only the head of each household was actually named on the 1830 census. Following his (or her) name is an enumeration of members of the household, divided by sex with thirteen age categories for each.